Chapter Two Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Five
22nd December 1976
Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport
Henriette’s mother had encouraged her to take this trip, accompanying Marie as she had flown home for Christmas. She had been extremely reluctant because this was the first time she had been away from Alice for more than a few hours since her daughter had been born. That had gotten Henriette a talk from her mother about what she owed herself. Her mother knew about the large number of letters that she had written to and received from Sabastian and Henriette needed to learn if he was serious. Or if he was another worthless boy who would flee to Michigan the instant things got difficult. While that did leave a question over how much Henriette’s mother knew and why, she was making a lot of sense. Besides that, Alice would be fine with her grandparents for a week.
Henriette knew she was a long way from home the instant she left the airliner and saw through the bay windows of the terminal that dozens of fighter planes were parked across the runway. Big white and red planes in one line and smaller planes painted bright colors in another.
“They are based out of this airport” Marie replied when Henriette pointed it out as if it was something that was not out of the ordinary.
The next shock was when Henriette reached Customs. The Customs Officials and Security Officers looked like they were from the Army and heavily armed by anyone’s standards.
“Are they supposed to have guns?” Henriette asked as they stood in line.
“They are Federal Border Police” Marie replied, when Henriette pointed out that one of the officers was standing there with a submachine gun on a sling. “It is expected that they can handle anything that happens here. Because of the latest mess between the Turks and the Greeks there have been some violent incidents at the airports. You didn’t hear about what happened in Hamburg a few days ago?”
“What happened in Hamburg?” Henriette asked, she had been busy with getting through the last university term and taking care of Alice to pay too much attention to the news. Marie didn’t seem too interested in enlightening her about what Hamburg had to do with what she was seeing now.
Henriette was quiet as they made their way to the front of the line. She had thought that the Matriarch of the Schultz family was the worst she would have to contend with. Only now it was hitting her that she was stepping into a very different culture. Watching Marie as she spoke with the Customs Officials, speaking with them and how they barely looked at her passport before they stamped it. They knew exactly who she was.
“Good morning” The Official said in heavily accented English, “Your passport please.”
He scrutinized the passport for what seemed like an eternity.
“The purpose of your visit?” The Official asked.
“Visiting… uhm… tourist…” Henriette replied awkwardly.
“I see, do you have anything to declare?”
“No” Henriette replied. Marie had told her to pack light and not to bother bringing anything she didn’t actually need. That made this part extremely easy.
“Thank you, Fraulein Lane” The Official said before he stamped the passport. Collecting her suitcase, Henriette found Marie waiting for her.
“What happened to being shy around strangers?” Henriette asked.
“The Agent who was working the Customs desk wasn’t a stranger” Marie replied, “He worked with my mother when she was with the BII.”
What was the BII? Henriette thought but didn’t ask. She was very far from everything she had ever known and didn’t want to advertise that fact, not even to Marie.
Stepping out of the terminal, Henriette followed Marie. It was as cold as it had been in Montreal when they had left what seemed like a thousand years earlier, but the air felt damp as well. There was the expected pickup/drop off area that was a hive of people and cars. It was noticeable that most of the cars were what would be considered compact back in Canada. There were also a large number of microbuses of various kinds playing the role of taxies. As if it was a creature from another era, something predatory that had escaped the asteroid, a massive gleaming black Mercedes Benz touring car pulled up to the sidewalk the rumbling from the engine seemed to vibrate the very air around it. An extremely tough looking man who seemed to be as wide as he was tall got out and said something in a language (Russian?) that Henriette couldn’t understand. Then he opened the back door of the car for them after he put their luggage into the trunk.
It was with a bit of trepidation that Henriette got in the car with Marie. “Is this a part of the plan?” She asked as the car pulled into traffic.
“Boris has worked for my mother for the last decade” Marie replied as they got onto a highway and were passing through what looked like working class suburbs. Of course, who else would live this close to the highway and airport, Henriette thought to herself. Some things were universal if she had to guess.
The City seemed endless as they drove north and then west. Henriette had been told that Berlin was on the scale of New York City, but had not quite understood what that meant. Eventually, the car left the highways and was on surface streets. It was easy to see that this was probably a beautiful place during the summertime with tree shaded streets and they passed what looked like a collection of large public buildings. “The Humboldt Campus of the University of Berlin” was what Marie said when Henriette asked. Finally, the car drove down a muddy, rutted alleyway before coming to a stop. Henriette wasn’t sure what to expect as she followed Marie through a gate into a small backyard where they had a small brown dog barking at them. The house towered over them with other nearly identical houses on either side. When Henriette imagined the place where Marie had grown up, somehow, this was not what she had ever pictured.
